Parents unaware of children's harmful online experiences, research shows

The study supported by the eSafety Commissioner surveyed more than 3500 young people aged eight to 17 and their parents in August and September 2021.

It found that just over half of children communicated with someone they first met online, but only 34 per cent of their parents were aware.

Almost two-thirds of young people aged 14 to 17 said they had been exposed to potentially negative user-generated content, including hate messages (39 per cent), discussion of drug use (37 per cent) and gory and violent images (37 per cent). However, only 43 per cent of their parents said they were aware their child was exposed to this content.

Seven in 10 young people aged 14 to 17 had seen sexual images on the internet and almost half had received a sexual message from someone online.

Girls in this age group were more likely than boys to have opened a sexual message or link and more likely to have been asked by someone on the internet to send sexual images of themselves.

Parents were more aware of serious negative online experiences, such as children being asked to share intimate images of themselves or being a victim of fraud.

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said 45 per cent of children surveyed had been treated in a nasty or hurtful way online.

"What's a little bit concerning here is that 70 per cent of kids told their parents [about a hurtful experience], but only 51 per cent of their parents really remember the conversation or that it registered with them that this had happened or had a significant impact on them," she said.

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Ms Inman Grant said children rarely talked about their experiences as cyber bullying.

"When you talk to young people about their negative experiences online, they talk more in terms of creating drama, spreading rumours or being socially excluded," she said.

Children reported taking actions towards stopping the unwanted behaviours, such as unfriending or blocking someone (63 per cent), trying to get the other person to leave them alone (55 per cent), deleting messages (50 per cent) and changing privacy settings (41 per cent).

Ms Inman Grant said parents were increasingly supporting their children to report online abuse.